Effective as of now, we've implemented a change in moderation policies. Unedited, I'll include the details at the end of this message.

First though, I want to thank the moderators here for all their work. No one who isn't already behind the scenes can possibly appreciate the amount of work these folks have been doing with spammers, pornography, and other nuisances that afflict the forum. The stuff you've seen is just the tip of the iceberg.

My personal available time has dropped tremendously in the last few years. I'll say it again lest I be misunderstood, I won't shut this forum down until the last person stops using it, which I don't anticipate anytime soon. I've even made arrangements with my wife, should something happen to me, so that the forum will be taken care of. However, the amount of "me" I've been able to invest in the forum lately has been less than it used to be.

So the moderators have been picking up my slack, and doing a damned good job of it. Seriously, you have no idea how much work these guys put in. It's been years since I've gotten a moderation report (spammers, porn, etc) that wasn't already acted upon no matter how early in the day I look at it. I don't think some of these mods sleep.

There have been disagreements on content moderation though. Some of you have been "less than shy" about expressing your perspective on it. On one hand, there's an inclination to realize that some people just won't ever be happy. On the other hand, you guys *are* the forum, and so I do listen and care about your opinions, even when I don't always agree.

So, we're trying a change as noted below. My available time won't significantly increase though, so what this change is going to mean is that when something does need content based moderation, it's going to remain that way for a while until I can get to it. That's the tradeoff. If it gets ugly, I'm reserving the right to undo this moderation policy change, but we're going to try it. It also means some threads will probably get locked from time to time, until I have a chance to look at them. Hopefully that's just a matter of hours, but sometimes it'll be days.

Enough said - here's the info I posted to the moderation team.

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I'd like to make a change in how we collectively moderate things around here.

First I really appreciate your efforts more than I've said and more than you can ever know. It's no secret that I've been pretty absentee for a while now, and you guys picked up the slack. It's very rare that there's a report of some kind of spam or trouble that isn't already dealt with before I get to it. You guys rock. Seriously I can't say it enough, you guys have done a thankless job without ... well... without thanks. So thank you.

But as you also know, there's been some grief about the moderation here for a while also. Some of it is just hater's gonna hate and there are some people on this forum who are suffering from cranial-rectal inversion who need a boot up their keester sideways.

On the other hand though, some of it is related to us having different styles of moderation and me not passing on very good guidelines for how I would like to do things, as well some of it is perceived conflicts of interest, either due to commercial efforts, or past conflicts.

Here's what I'd like to try for a while. I'm going to ask everyone not to moderate things for content -- don't edit or delete other people's posts. The exception to that being obvious spammers or pornography or approving newbie posts/topics, please jump on that when you see it. However, leave the rest for me to be the bad guy. If something's going really south, lock the thread and refer it to me to deal with. That means that moderating things is going to take longer, but I think it'll be easier on everyone all around. It will certainly be easier on my blood pressure

I hope everyone is OK with this and is willing to stick around and continue to help out, but I understand if this doesn't sit well with you and you don't want to do it anymore. If that's the case, again thank you, and I hope there aren't any hard feelings. I just don't know what else to do.

The problem is what happened in the past and the lack of corrective action / guidance / discipline at that time. The moderator I lack an affinity for hasn't moderated me (AFAIK) or publicly talked any more ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- about me since. He or She has moderated other peoples posts that shouldn't have been moderated and he or she never apologized to me for being a ---smurfing--- ---uvula---. It does not bother me that you do not take my word at face value , others have chimed in and been dismissed just as quickly as me. I do however take offense that you would imply that I am hating just to hate.

Let the record show that I dont hate Scott, I just feel that he is both unqualified or mature enough to be a moderator. I also am not qualified or mature enough to be a moderator.

I will say this for him, he doesn't assign me psychological conditions when I disagree with him.

This change in policy sounds like a giant pain in the dick and is not needed. I plan to post far less (less for you to moderate!), avoid the real fucktards of this forum as best I can, and when I do leave I wont take all my posts with me.

Nephasth

Yeah, yeah. There isn't an overwhelming demand for it, but upvoting/downvoting posts without totalizing points for each user, could help us self moderate each other. "This post has 20 upvotes. What this guy has to say might be helpful." "This post has 42 downvotes. This guy is being a dick."

The problem with voting on posts is that people will inevitably do things that get them positive feedback. Which sounds great but it'll turn into "DAE LE OLD GEMS?" in 20 seconds flat. Some of the members of this forum really outdid themselves with the last system we had.

This change sounds ok I guess. I don't know, I've never moderated a forum before...but all I do know is that there was a good length of time a "new" mod came in and started using his/her mod power to edit and organize only his/her posts. I thought this was pretty ridiculous since at the time there were call-outs for a mod to clean-up/fix/move posts, all the while he/she was doing personal post housecleaning instead.

Luckily this mod has cooled down on that, so I don't have anything else to complain about now. Lump me in the hater camp if you will, but personally I don't think a person should be a mod if his/her only agenda is servicing only themselves.

ps. can I be an "Include your location Mod" to only the BST forum? That could be my only job, and I'd be damn good at it.

Ok, I am going to show my age, my ignorance, and my general un-coolness, and I may hate myself in the morning, but pray tell, what is a dirty ginger?(My apologies if this is a dirty word that got past the censor).

Actually if you put up a post moderation of new users (dare I say it again for the zillionth time) up to 10 posts the mods can try to stop the spamming that went on before, and I do admit that episode is lessening.

Saint, just leave the guys who are moderating the way it is. They are doing a splendid job. The whiners will be whiners, and really you should either kill PnR and make it into a better Forum called "Everything Goes". That would be a great place to put post hell so we can view it and get issues off our collective chests. Entry into "Everything Goes"should depend on the post count of each member of say 3000+. Rep was really good but I haven't looked into SMF mods as of late, so I don't know if there is a better system to implement.

It is your board and you have the final say. You have done a fine job and your hard work and patience for this site is admirable.

p.s. So are you going underground to write a Harry Potter book or something....?

Logged

"I really do feel pity for those who go out of their way to perform a personal slight, than taking the effort in joining the conversation and creating some useful dialogue which would benefit the persons' perusal of this topic. Yet where would we be without the persistant antagonist?"

Actually if you put up a post moderation of new users (dare I say it again for the zillionth time) up to 10 posts the mods can try to stop the spamming that went on before, and I do admit that episode is lessening.

Good news.

Saint enabled first-post-approval moderation a week ago and it's working GREAT so far -- no spam has been successfully posted since then.

The day after he put the new system in place, a barrage-type spammer tried to post 19 replies and 1 topic.

It only took 3 clicks on two pages to delete all 20 posts. (2 clicks for the replies, 1 for the topic)

The only (minor) down-side to the new system is the compulsion to frequently refresh the "Unapproved Posts" page to minimize the lag between posting and approval for legit members.

I never filled out the required paper work for PnR. (Started to, but decided against it.)I figured it would be best not to go in that room.With my "Hulk" personality I tend to shy away from arguments.DaOld Man Smash Computer Thing!!!

I think the mods have always done a pretty darn good job on here.This forum is a great place and I'm happy to hear there are plans to keep it going.

I've always been a bit bewildered on how some people can get so offended and pissed over some of the arguments here.

Personally I have never gone in the PnR section, nor do I feel even the most remote desire too. I have plenty of opportunities during my normal day to argue with people abot world views and what not and really what does it accomplish